Background: The COVID-19 pandemic posed a severe psychological burden on healthcare professionals worldwide, yet little evidence exists from North African low- and middle-income countries. Objective: This study assessed levels of perceived stress and burnout among Moroccan healthcare workers and explored associated occupational risk factors, based on retrospective data collected in 2022. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 200 physicians and nurses (n = 200) from five public hospitals in Meknes. Validated instruments, the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-14) and the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI-HSS), were used. Descriptive statistics, chi-square tests with Cramér’s V, and ordinal logistic regression analyses were performed using IBM SPSS Statistics version 26. Results: High proportions of healthcare professionals reported elevated stress and clinical burnout. Occupational risk factors such as working in intensive care or COVID-19 units, on-call shift schedules, and sleep disturbances were strongly associated with adverse outcomes. Conclusions: Moroccan healthcare professionals experienced persistent psychological strain during and after the pandemic. The novelty of this study lies in documenting post-pandemic data from 2022 in a North African setting, providing timely evidence of long-term impacts. These findings underscore the urgent need for organizational reforms and targeted psychological support programs to protect the mental health of healthcare workers in future health crises.
Levels of glyphosate and their metabolite AMPA were measured in urine of farmers and their spouses that lived in intensively farmed area in Morocco. The levels were used as proxies to determine the exposure of these target population to herbicides. Determinants of exposure to glyphosate were also assessed. Urine was collected from 104 farmers, 50 spouses and 50 people from the general adult population and information from sociodemographic characteristics and occupational exposure was collected from questionnaires administrated to farmers and spouses. The detection frequency was 67% for glyphosate and 62% for AMPA among farmers, and 56% for glyphosate and 48% for AMPA among spouses, with the mean concentration of 1.22 μg L−1 and 0.85 μg L−1 among farmers, and 0.58 μg L−1 and 0.50 μg L−1 among spouses, respectively. Nevertheless, mean values of glyphosate and AMPA for general population were below the reported quantification limits. Multiple regression analysis showed that smoking status, applying glyphosate in the last 7 days, and glove use are the most important contribution to urinary levels of glyphosate and AMPA among farmers, and proximity of home to spraying area, and herbicides drift enters house are the main predictors of urinary glyphosate and AMPA exposure among spouses. The GMs of estimated daily intake were 1.26 and 1.39 µg/kg BW/day for glyphosate and AMPA among farmers, and 0.56 and 0.96 µg/kg BW/day for glyphosate and AMPA among spouses, respectively. This study provides further evidence on factors associated with glyphosate and AMPA exposure, especially in developing countries.